As is known, saddles of the more conventional type are generally composed of a shaped, rigid or semi-rigid body which forms the support structure of the saddle and is referred to, in the technical jargon of the sector, by the name of “shell”, and of a padding which is arranged on top of the shell and generally consists of an expanded elastomer material such as, for example, polyurethane with or without the addition of material in the form of a gel. The shell also has, mounted underneath it, fixing means for ensuring the connection of the saddle with the frame of the bicycle. These means normally comprise a shaped bar (or a pair of shaped bars) fixed to the saddle mounting tube by means of clamps.
The padding of the saddle is generally lined with a fabric, leather or other material which essentially performs the function of ensuring a greater seating comfort for the cyclist.
As is known, in the bicycle sector, for some time there has been a particularly pressing need to provide saddles which are at the same time comfortable, i.e. are able to ensure seating comfort, and light so as not to penalize excessively the cyclist's performance.
In order to provide saddles which are particularly light, saddles without padding have been manufactured recently, said saddles being essentially composed of the support structure alone which is integrally made of particularly strong and light materials such as, for example, composite materials consisting of carbon fibres bonded together in resin matrices.
These saddles, although being extremely light and having a good mechanical strength, in practice have proved to be excessively uncomfortable owing to the limited elasticity of the seat.
In order to improve the comfort of cyclists, more recently thin paddings have been mounted on top of the carbon-fibre seats, although these still have been unable to solve entirely the problem of excessive lack of comfort.
Alternatively, already known saddles envisage the use of a padding which is composed of several layers of material with varying elasticity (including also gel) which are suitably arranged in the various zones of the seating surface above the support structure which is made of rigid or semi-rigid plastic material (for example polypropylene) with a substantially constant cross-section. In this way, the distribution of the pressures over the whole of the seating surface of the saddle has been significantly improved, thereby benefiting the comfort of the cyclist, but greatly penalizing the overall lightness of the saddle.
At present, therefore, the problem of providing a saddle which is both comfortable and extremely light has not been entirely solved.
In particular, hitherto the function of optimising the seating comfort has been attributed entirely to the padding and the function of reducing, where possible, the overall weight of the saddle has been attributed to the support structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,604,748 discloses a bicycle saddle of composite material according to the preamble of claim 1. However, such prior bicycle saddle has a rather rigid support structure of reduced comfort and relatively high weight.